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At The Cottage This Past Weekend (1 Viewer)

Tammie

Well-known member
Hi Forum!

Hubby and I escaped life for a while and spent a night at the cottage on the weekend. We went fishing and had a great time and a good dinner too! :)
As we sat in the gazebo to cool off after chopping wood for the coming winter, I listened, wondering what I would hear in the old neighbourhood.
I heard a pileated woodpecker calling from not far away.
I watched a northern flicker on the back lawn hunting for ants.
A few chipping sparrows were in the old garden.
Some chickadees were in the trees.
A male downy woodpecker was hanging around the old platform feeder.
Huge loons with babies on the lake. Their calls still give me shivers!
A gorgeous osprey that swooped right over our boat while we were fishing. What a sight that was!!!
The topper for me tho' was the return of my beloved whiskey jacks (gray jays)!!! Three of them at first, one being this year's baby that still looks a little sooty. By the end of the day, we had 6 or 7 of them coming to the yard every time we sat in the gazebo. It just made the whole weekend for me!!! I don't get them here now because the habitat isn't right for them so I only see them when I go back to the old place. My husband just shakes his head because he never sees them when he's there alone. I didn't believe him at first, but it's been proven now that they return when I'm there. It's fabulous!!! They were a little nervous this time and wouldn't hand feed, although one did seriously consider it! But, it wouldn't take long to coax them again.
I'm hoping to get back there a couple of more times before fall hits. Sometimes I wonder why we ever moved!!
 
Hi Tammie, isn't it nice to get away for the weekend (LOL). I have to laugh out loud as with yourself as well, we live in near isolation and then go away to further isolation. I just wonder how people who live in cities survive. Speaking of cities - I am moving to one for the winter. This will be on the forest fringe/aspen parkland so a few new birds for me to enjoy. You mentioned that you have Northern Flicker feeding on the lawn. Are your flicker fledglings unafraid of human/animal contact? A friend of mine calls them just plain dumb because cats on her farm catch them easily. To the point, I walk the shallows of the lake shore here all the time and the other day spotted a NF fledge in a tree. As I approached the tree the bird continued to hop from branch to branch downwards until it was right in front of me. I could have touched it so close. I scooped up a dead dragon fly from the water and held it out. The bird hopped on my arm, snatch the fly and hopped back on the tree and disappeared into the bush. Amazing!
 
Yve, that truly is amazing! A flicker on your arm! What an experience. I haven't seen any flicker fledglings... the one on my lawn was an adult. It was far enough away that I had to use the binos to ID it.
I know what you mean about cities too. I don't mind visiting for a week or two at the most, but then I just want to go home! People overload!! ;) Where are you off to for the winter?
As a special treat this morning, I spotted a small family of purple finches at one of my feeders: 1 male, 1 female and a baby moulting into adult male colors! Does he ever look a mess! Red splotches here and there but still with plenty of juvenile striping. Cute!
o:)
 
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